Sheriffs, what are they and what does the title entail? Well I’m not a Camarilla expert but I do know they are the enforcer for the local Prince. I would imagine that whoever had that title would be from a martial clan and probably pretty tough since they had the job of enforcing rules and meeting out punishments. When I asked Lori about our target she told me that the local Sheriff was a Ventrue named Claudius and he had two hounds who were supposedly his childe. Gotta love that nepotism right? Either way if it is a Ventrue then we had a pretty good chance.
“Mind if we stop by my bike? I need my sword if I’m going to slay me some wannabe noble.” I had asked and was obliged. We stopped by my bike and then into a black SUV Lori, Raulf, Me and one other vampire who I think was Grangrel got into? Or maybe I just assumed so because he smelled of wet dog? Was that racist, yeah kinda. I’ll keep my snide remarks to myself then. Either way I sat beside Raulf in the back and was checking the edge of my sword.
“Nice blade, I can tell it’s not one of those flea market knock offs.” He said admiring the craftsmanship of the weapon. I couldn’t help but grin in pride at the comment.
“Yeap, it was a gift from my Mother before I left home the last time. My father left a Daisho for us to inherit when we came of age. So as the middle child I got the wakizashi.” I offered giving them a glimpse of my backstory a bit. We were triplets but unlike my older and younger brother I was the only human of the litter. My oldest brother had protested of course since I had been destined for an arranged marriage before my escape but my Mother put an end to that. It was only after joining the Sabbat and learning Thaumaturgy did I bind a vicious death spirit to the blade. It had been haunting the same Cemetery that old bitch of a necromancer took up shop in. She hadn’t joined the Sect officially but cooperated when the tasks aligned with her needs. We bumped heads over the training of a new fledgling that was adopted by the Sect and I had raided her cemetery and bound the meanest spirit there as an insurance policy. The thing hated the undead and proved equally happy to deliver Final Death to either Cainites or dime store zombies.
“You sound like you miss them.” He said without any judgement. I looked up at him with a glare before relenting. No need to pretend, I wasn’t talking to fellow Sabbat anymore. These people didn’t have the same values after all.
“Yeah sometimes. Though I doubt they would like what I’ve become.” My response caught Lori’s attention from the front passenger seat. She turned and stared at me with that same analyzing stare as she looked right through me.
“Guess they didn’t ruin you in the end huh…” When she spoke I stared back with a little irritation. I knew what she meant and scoffed slightly.
“I don’t know what you think you know about the Sword but don’t pretend you do. Despite what people think we were just as capable of empathy and love as anyone else. I was even married to a pack member… Least I was until the Inquisition took her away from me.” My glare seemed to have spoken to the Malkavian as she nodded and turned around. I hated Aspex users… What good was hiding your feelings when someone could read your aura like an open book.
“My apologies Yuiko I didn’t mean anything by what I said.” Raulf managed with a look of empathy and I couldn’t glare at him. The big guy was growing on me and I felt bad that I had plotted how to kill him earlier if this whole thing had gone south. I gave him a nod like Lori did to me and went back to focusing on my gear as our SUV travelled into Philadelphia proper.
Some time later…
The rest of the trip was pretty quiet as everyone mentally prepared themselves for what was essentially an assassination attempt on a member of the local court’s leadership. Once we got about 5 minutes out she went over the plan. They had gotten intel that Claudius and his two goons were going to be raiding a local Anarch business that was dealing in the blood bag market. Supposedly they were stealing supply and then reselling it on the black market to independants. We were going to knock the Sheriff and his men off during the raid. Once in position I pulled up my pattern spider equipment smartphone and pressed the push to talk button.
“Crawler, locate all security cameras within a visual range of our target please. Including any that are inside the building itself.” Letting go of the button the other three looked at me like I was insane but I held up my other hang so they held on. A mechanical squeaky voice came out of the phone after pulling up the camera locations on my map app. “Three found, two outside with line of sight between the SUV and target building and one inside the target building.”
“Thanks buddy, hack them and put the video on loop for 30 minutes.” I ordered the bound Weaver spirit who gave me an affirmation. Putting my phone away I looked at the crew with a grin. “No video evidence. Let’s hunt us a noble.” My yokai mask was placed over my face and I pulled the hood over my head before opening the SUV and stepping outside.
“I don’t know what you are pulling but you better not be fucking with us Yuiko.” Lori warned, grabbing a pump action shotgun from the trunk. I just looked at her and nodded while waiting for Raulf to grab what I could only describe as a two handed warhammer. The third guy whose name I never asked reached for an AR-15 meaning he probably wasn’t a Gangrel. Whatever, we had a tank, a spellblade, a close range shooter and a mid range shooter. All we needed was a healer and we had a regular D&D group. It had been so long since I went on a job with a team. This was pretty awesome!
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“Alright, so breaching tactics?” I offered as we strolled up in all black gear and heavily armed. Lori nodded before giving out positions as she was technically in charge of this operation. “Raulf will take point, our target is already in the building and harassing the shop owner. Don’t worry, the owner is one of ours. Bust down the door, I’ll open fire on the doormen and Yuiko will engage the Sheriff. Leo will provide overwatch. If anyone attempts to run, double tap.”
Everyone nodded and the hunt was on… I didn’t plan to engage my warform this time. Nala though was prepared to strike. Venture had Domination, Presence, and Fortitude. When the fight started they would probably start with a flash of Presence to dispute the attack and then Domination to force our compliance. Fortitude would make them tough and I had no idea if any of them had non clan disciplines. If we didn’t take them down quickly it could turn into a slog.
The poor building we were approaching was already pretty beaten down. Graffiti tags dotted the wall and a homeless guy just inside of an alley bolted as soon as we arrived. Good man, this wasn’t his place after all. One of the windows was boarded up so our gunman Leo took the window giving him a sliver of vision inside. Raulf got to the side of the door with Lori behind with her shotgun. I was positioned low planning to use Celerity and my size to slip in after the shots started and heading for the Sheriff. Leo pointed at the door and indicated two with guns and the pointed in the direction of the Sheriff.
I had never joined the army but I assumed this was how a house sweep in Iraq felt during the mid 2000s because we went loud. Rault activated Potence and with a monstrous swing struck the door in a way that caused it to blow off its hinges. Before anyone inside could scream Lori put two rounds of buckshot into the doorman as Leo fired several rounds of 5.56 into the back of the other doorman. Both vampires weren’t down yet as they were supernaturally tough but it was enough of a distraction for me to activate Celerity and charge in toward the direction of the Sheriff.
Claudius wasn’t a novice and as soon as the door came down and shots started he drew a Colt 45 and a longsword. I was the only one fully inside right now so he turned his gaze on me and did just what I thought he would. Dread Gaze washed over my psyche and my Beast went ballistic at the mental intrusion. Fury washed over me as everything turned red and I directed my attention on the Elder ahead of me. When his attempt to mind fuck me failed he didn’t even bother with the Domination. Frenzied vampires were resistant to mental intrusion which is why members of the Sabbat trained to ride their frenzy rather than cage it. For a Cainite Frenzy was both a weakness and a strength. A weakness in that it gave us tunnel-vision and made it hard to distinguish friend from foe. The strength though was that unless you killed us we wouldn’t stop trying to kill you.
The Elder fired on me with his .45 and several of the heavy ACP rounds struck but all it did was make me grunt. Bullets were not the optimum weapon to use on a vampire as on my side Raulf was already smashing his target with the hook end of his warhammer and Lori unloaded every shell her shotgun had into hers. I would later see that she had turned the poor guy into an art project painted with buckshot. On my end though Nala appeared from the shadows grabbing the Elder by the leg with her canines so he couldn’t move easily. Thanks to Fortitude the guy didn’t lose a leg but it was enough to pin him so I could attempt to drive my sword into his heart.
I had the speed but not the strength as my blade entered flesh but stopped before I could fully penetrate and score myself an instant torpor. Not that it really helped… Spirit rending energy surged into the wound as the death spirit trapped in the blade attempted to decay the bonds that held together the Venture’s flesh. A howl of agony erupted from the man’s throat as he swung the pistol at me shattering my arm with his vampiric strength. Still in a frenzy though I twisted and swung my free hand, now tipped with beastial claws tearing the Elder’s wrist apart forcing the gun to fly across the room. Flesh and bone hung freely but the other hand still had a sword. We were too close for a long sword to be effective but the guy wasn’t an elder for anything. He drove the pommel into my back forcing me down from the impact. Nala let go of the guy’s leg and proceeded to grab his arm with her teeth and dragged him off balance enough for Leo to put three bullets into Claudius from the window. Unlike in Hollywood being shot didn’t tend to force you back but the impact did cause a reaction and it was enough for Nala to drag him to the floor and start shaking hard in an attempt to rip the arm from her target.
I wasn’t feeling too awesome at the moment myself but with some effort I leaped onto the fallen Venture and put my full weight onto the sword still stuck in his chest and finally felt it give and the lights to go out in he man’s eyes. Torpored at last and I was hurting pretty bad. Ripping my mask up and exposing my fangs I latched onto the Elder’s throat like a wild animal and took my bounty. Run through the way he was there was nothing the man could do and the rest of the crew had finished off their foes. The shopkeeper refused to approach me out of fear for his own unlife as well.
“Yuiko you don’t have to stain yourself further… Don’t do it.” A soft voice came from behind me as blood drained my throat, healing my wounds and repairing my shattered arm. I was almost there… I could taste the venture’s heartblood and it was struggling against me. The words found purchase in my psyche as I stopped trying to draw. My wounds were healed and the Beast no longer felt angry… I didn’t need this Venture’s soul. I was full and there was no need to extend the suffering of my foe. Slowly rationality and harmony surfaced and with a twist of my sword the Elder collapsed into dust.
“No, I don't need to do it.” I finally whispered, pulling my mask back down to hide my blood soaked face before picking up my sword and cleaning it off. Mission accomplished…